Enhancing STEM Education with Leadership Academies in a Rural Two-Year College Context

This project aims to serve the national interest by increasing retention and success in STEM of rural community college students through leadership opportunities and seamless transfer pathways to four-year university STEM programs. Expanding STEM pathways and increasing participation in STEM not only supports efforts to grow the economy in a low-income region of the country, but also provides increased earning potential for individual students and their families. The project builds on a foundation of previous efforts to further improve undergraduate STEM education at a two-year college with a multi-pronged design that leverages a STEM Leadership Academy and establishes additional partnerships with nearby four-year universities. The project serves first- and second-year two-year college students in five STEM disciplines that lead to an Associate in Science Degree which will transfer to a bachelor’s degree program in Biology, Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, and Engineering. The project anticipates its impact to support broadening participation in STEM across rural Appalachian counties. The goals of this project center on implementing a STEM Leadership Academy and establishing new STEM pathways that support student success at a rural two-year college. These goals will be achieved by carrying out the following initiatives: 1) faculty mentoring, 2) leadership skill building opportunities, 3) providing stipends for STEM Leadership Academy participants 4) establishing a STEM associate in science transfer pathway, and 5) aligning curricula with nearby transfer institutions. These cross institutional interactions seek to develop stronger relationships that are mutually beneficial and serve to increase transfer rates and prepare two-year college students for the next step. The impact is expected to reach beyond the students directly involved, and will include their families, communities, and the southeastern Kentucky region. The results of the project will be disseminated widely to inform other higher education institutions, especially community colleges in rural low-income regions. The project will also disseminate project outcomes at local, regional, and national conferences. The NSF IUSE: Innovation in Two-Year College STEM Education (ITYC) Program seeks to accelerate the impact and advance the knowledge about emerging and evidence-based practices in undergraduate STEM education at two-year colleges. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.